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Tag Archives: 2008

Linha de Passe is a depiction of a lower class family composed of 4 brothers and a single pregnant mother in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It tells story of each member as they struggle through their suffocating circumstances in this unforgiving metropolis. What I love about this movie is that although it explores the theme of survival, it doesn’t concentrate on the over portrayed drug-controlled favelas as we’re so used to seeing, instead it shows what real characters go through and how they help each other keep their lives going.

As the title suggests, “Linha de Passe” is a term in football (or soccer for the stubborn ones) that means the line where one player can pass the ball to another with the least probability of interception. That’s what happens in this film. The story is passed character to character and each one has interesting traits. Denis is the older one who works as a motoboy and has a hard time providing for his son. Dinho is the more serious brother who seeks to cover up his shady past through religion. Dario is the football player who dreams of going pro, and Reginaldo is the younger one who is fascinated with driving a bus while constantly searching for his father.

To be honest, I did not like this film in my first viewing but this time I came to appreciate more each of their journeys. Maybe the quantity of characters obstruct a deeper development of each, diluting the narrative down a notch. Whatever it may be, one can still appreciate a pretty realistic picture of what it is to live in a cruel part of this city.